Virginia Distillery Blue Ridge Select American Single Malt Whisky 700 ml

Virginia Distillery Company was founded in 2011 by Irish entrepreneur Gareth H. Moore in Lovingston, Virginia, nestled in the Blue Ridge Mountains, and has since become one of the most decorated names in the American single malt category. The distillery focuses exclusively on single malt production, using two-row spring barley malted into brewer's pale malt and fermenting it in jacketed steel tanks before distillation on pot stills built by Forsyth's Northern Fabricators in Elgin, Scotland. Blue Ridge Select sits within the distillery's core lineup, built to showcase its house style with a bit more age behind it than some of the brand's younger releases.

Blue Ridge Select is distilled entirely from 100 percent malted barley and matures for more than five years in first-fill ex-bourbon barrels sourced primarily from Kentucky distilleries, largely Brown-Forman. After that initial aging, the whiskey moves into virgin toasted oak barrels cut from timber in the Blue Ridge Mountains, spending roughly another year in a mix of medium, medium-plus, and heavy toast levels before bottling. All of the aging takes place in metal-clad warehouses at an elevation of about 920 feet without climate control, letting the region's natural temperature swings shape the whiskey. It's bottled at 93 proof, or 46.5 percent ABV.

The nose opens with jasmine and vanilla, giving way to honey, orange zest, and ripe pear. On the palate, cinnamon and brown sugar lead into more pear alongside burnt orange peel, carried on a notably thick mouthfeel. The finish shifts direction with coconut and black pepper, closing on vanilla and black walnut for a layered, slightly earthy conclusion.